Same old story or have England improved under Edwards?

England’s exit from the World Cup in the semi-finals appears to be repeating itself.

Despite the relatively smooth transition to the group stage, the confidence only grew worse as a result of additional pressure.

We’ve been here before: Birmingham 2022, Cape Town 2023, Dubai 2024, Australia 2025.

Guwahati’s splendor from South Africa may be included in the list, but it will need an asterisk next to it.

England were outplayed rather than buckling under the pressure, with Laura Wolvaardt’s stunning 169 from 143 balls, a classy captain’s innings that will be gushing over for years to come.

Even though England were guilty of bowling too wide in the powerplay to give her a flying start, Wolvaardt never faltered, even as the bowlers improved and tightened their grip.

Instead, the Proteas skipper settled in and ensured she was present at the end to help her side defeat a weary attack in the hostile humidity in the final 10 overs.

After a 16-0 Ashes drubbing, England’s head coach, Charlotte Edwards, who has been in charge for six months, inherited a team that was lacking in confidence.

As she later admitted after the game while cutting a lacked confidence in her media duties, it was never going to be a quick fix.

Was Edwards frantically searching for excuses when confronted by reporters on television, radio, and the internet moments after her worst-ever presidency was over?

Absolutely not; she was more than willing to show off her disappointment. She was eager to allow her players to sit idily alongside the sinking feeling she felt.

She said, “I’m keeping away from the players at the moment because I haven’t spoken to them.”

However, England’s general direction has some cons, and this particular game was another example of a subpar performance in a difficult situation and one that many people thought would be the clear favorites.

They had defeated South Africa in their opening match by skipping the Proteas for 69, and they have a remarkable record in ODIs, winning 36-10 in England before this, including two semi-final victories at the two previous World Cups.

After defeating New Zealand, England were confident in winning the match, despite Australia’s 97-run defeat.

When they won the toss and had the chance to try to pick at raw South African batting wounds by bowling first, things were all set up nicely for them.

According to Edwards, the semi-finals were her minimum expectation before the tournament, so they are a tick in her book.

However, England was ultimately flattered by placing second overall in the group stage.

They shifted between the brilliant and the perplexing. The stuttering victory over Bangladesh followed the aforementioned demolition, largely with the assistance of DRS.

Before they impressively edged a closely-fought tie against hosts India, Pakistan, the worst team in the tournament, was saved by rain.

However, the bubble burst when Australia won another heartbreaking game.

The same pattern has persisted throughout: their batting, especially the spinners, has been excellent but their bowling has been horribly exposed.

With an edgy win and a washout papering over concern cracks, they were 78-5 and 78-7 against Bangladesh and Pakistan, respectively, the tournament’s bottom two teams.

Concerns about the bat depth coming through the ranks to challenge them remain as a result of the dependency on Heather Knight and Sciver-Brunt.

This will likely be Tammy Beaumont’s, Sciver-Brunt, Amy Jones, and Knight’s final 50-over World Cup. Who are the names who are knocking on their door to replace them?

It was understandable for the batters’ minds to be a little jumbled because they had been dealt with Wolvaardt’s assault.

After chasing a record 320 in the heat for 50 overs, there was some sympathy for Jones, who had held the wicket in the second ball only to receive a stunning nip-backer from Marizanne Kapp, who had kept the wicket for 50.

However, don’t forget that England opted to bowl first.

The gap between England and the best lies where Knight and Beaumont flirted outside the off-field, Sciver-Brunt gave some hope with a fluent 64, but the game ended with her.

They would still have been in a good position to win if Australia had been in that situation.

However, it is also true that South Africa is similarly dependent on its major players.

A coach’s first major assignment is to put the pieces back together and bring a team that has been damaged to a 50-over World Cup in India.

Under Edwards, England have won 14 of their 21 ODIs, including a 2-1 series defeat by India in a weak West Indies side that started with a thumping of a weak West Indies side.

In their fielding and athleticism, which have been notably different, were two areas that England desperately needed to improve. They had the best catch percentage when they finished the group stage, and those errors and fumbles weren’t made apparent in this location after some poor fieldwork against India in the summer.

Despite having a bad day in the semi-final, Linsey Smith has been a revelation as an Edwards pick. The spinner benefited from a clear role and a straightforward gameplay to keep the stumps in play as she came in with 12 wickets overall and 7 in the powerplay.

Another player, Alice Capsey, has a clear role in the middle order, which makes her appear more authentic.

In contrast, the experiment with Emma Lamb, who was given the opportunity to bat first in a domestic debut but was instead given the bat at number six, failed, as she managed 36 runs in five innings while Sophia Dunkley, who had 68 in six innings of knocks, also looked out of sorts.

Given the difficulty of the task ahead and the lack of options, Edwards has mostly been working with the same group of Ashes series players, which is probably why she should have chosen the only team she could have chosen.

After India’s home T20 series defeat, there was little hope that England would win the World Cup, and Edwards had urged people to “judge next summer.”

Although this missed opportunity may seem less appealing than others, the T20 World Cup will take place in the country next year, so it won’t be.

Recent summers have seen the return of the English public’s desire for women’s sport, with Red Roses and Lionesses in rugby igniting a generation-boosting feelgood spirit.